Large ships, such as military fleet oilers, often have vertical coamings or bulwarks extending upward from the intersection of the deck and the hull of the ship, which in some cases extend upward from the deck to waist-height of a person standing on the deck. Such coamings and bulwarks typically include a plurality of openings, known as deck drains or “scuppers” at deck level, to permit controlled drainage overboard of water landing on the deck from waves while the ship is at sea, or from rainfall while the ship is at sea or in port. Such scuppers may take a variety of shapes including rectangular, round, half-round or ovoid, as is known in the art.
To protect the marine environment from pollution, it is sometimes necessary to temporarily seal the scuppers in a manner which prevents oily deck water from draining overboard. For example, in some ports, oil tankers tied next to a pier are required to retain all rainwater falling on the deck during fueling operations. To comply with such regulations, the scuppers draining deck water must be temporarily blocked in a manner allowing the rainwater to be collected from the deck in a controlled manner.
In the past, two primary approaches were utilized for temporarily sealing scuppers for containing deck water. In the first approach, standard-shaped, commercially available, rubber plugs having a general shape somewhat similar to the scupper opening in which they were to be used were compressed using a compression apparatus including two metal plates disposed on either end of the plug and a center bolt passing through the plugged end metal plates and secured by one or more wing nuts on threaded portions at one or both ends of the center bolt. The intent was that, as the wing nuts were tightened, the rubber plug would be compressed enough to conform to, and seal the scupper opening. Experience has shown, however, that the rubber used in standard size and shaped rubber plugs is too hard to adequately seal to the irregular surfaces found on shipboard scuppers and drains. This problem is exacerbated by the wing nuts not providing adequate leverage to sufficiently compress the rubber between the end plates.
In the second previously-used approach, wood blocks are temporarily cemented in place over the scuppers or deck drains using a type of adhesive or mortar. Although this method achieves a complete seal of the scupper, it is a highly labor-intensive process to install and remove the wood blocks, and often results in damage to the paint or protective coatings on the scuppers and adjacent surfaces.
An additional disadvantage of the prior approaches to temporarily blocking scuppers, is that both previously-used approaches required a considerable amount of bending over or kneeling down on the steel deck of the ship to install and remove the plugs.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide a new and improved apparatus and method for temporarily blocking a scupper or deck drain on a ship, in a manner which overcomes one or more of the disadvantages described above, or providing other advantages as will be recognized by those skilled in the art.